Transcript: Nicole Hockley and Jaclyn Corin on "Face the Nation," May 29, 2022
The following is a transcript of an interview with Nicole Hockley and Jaclyn Corin that aired on May 29, 2022 on "Face the Nation." The full interview transcript can be found below.
MARGARET BRENNAN: We are joined now by two people who lived through similar horrors to what we have seen in Uvalde. Nicole Hockley's son Dylan was six years old when he was killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Hockley is now the CEO of Sandy Hook Promise foundation. Jaclyn Corin was the junior class president at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. She and her classmates organize the March for our Lives in Washington in 2018. And they are planning another March here in just a few weeks. Good morning to both of you. I'm sorry, you had to listen to that revisiting of history. I know it is painful. And I thank you both for coming on and speaking so bravely today. I want to ask you, Nicole, The Washington Post is now reporting that the shooter had a history online using threatening language, specifically targeting violence against young women in particular, he was described as rage filled, isolated into video games. I know you're working to raise awareness of warning signs. Are these common signs? Is this what we need to be looking for?
NICOLE HOCKLEY: Yes, unfortunately, in almost every mass shooting or incident of violence like this, there are signs present, we just need to learn to know what to recognize, how to recognize them, and then how to take action. That's what we teach across the country at Sandy Hook Promise, and it has had tangible impact and lives saved, and school plan- shooting plans averted. However you need this is that's about behavioral change, and how do we know what to look for and take action? We also then need legislation to support and enforce those behaviors. So it is- it's an am situation not an or, but knowing the signs and recognizing them is critical to preventing violence before it happens.
MARGARET BRENNAN: What kind of legislation? Is that the sort of Red Flag Law that is being floated?
NICOLE HOCKLEY: Yes.- Yes, extreme risk protection orders and background checks, work hand in hand background checks, looking at your history, where have you displayed at risk behaviors in the past? And should you be responsible for a firearm and extreme risk protection orders or red flag laws is like, what's your current state of mind? Are you going into crisis? Are people worried about you? Should you be temporary separate- temporarily separated from weapons so that you can't move forward but that you can then de-escalate and get the help that you need, and then be deemed safe? If you have should have firearms again.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Jaclyn, I know that you are working to organize a protest here in Washington in the coming weeks. What's the goal? What's the specific ask?
JACLYN CORIN: Well, the ask is that our elected officials in our US Congress actually do something. I mean, over 150 gun laws around the country have been passed on a state level since 2018. The first march for our lives after the shooting at my high school in Parkland. You know, everything from raising the age to buy your firearm from 18 to 21 in Florida, extreme risk protection orders in Virginia, the prohibition of firearms at polling sites in Colorado. But the reality is, is that those state laws is not enough. It wasn't enough to prevent the mass shooting in Buffalo two weeks ago, or the mass shooting and Uvalde a couple of days ago. So we're getting back out there and calling on our US Congress to actually care this time around because children are dying.
MARGARET BRENNAN: In this elementary school, they were children, in your high school, many of your colleagues, you yourself are of voting age now. Is this something that you see real political mobile mobilization around particularly going into, for example, November and the midterm races? Is this something that you see a movement forming around?
JACLYN CORIN: Absolutely. I mean, the reality is that young people are absolutely terrified in this country, and rightly so. I mean, getting shot is the leading cause of death among young people now. And we can't even enter the spaces that are supposed to make us feel the safest, the places where we're meant to grow and become educated citizens without fearing that we are going to be shot dead in our seats. You know, I'm four years removed from the shooting at my high school and I still fear that I picked a seat a little too close, or a little too far from an emergency exit in my college lecture hall. And no student in this country should have to feel that way. In 2018, we saw record youth voter turnout in those elections, about 36% of youth voter turnout, which was the highest ever in a midterm election and I hope that we can push to make that percentage even larger this year in 2022.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Nicole, I know your son Jake survived the massacre at Sandy Hook. How does the child process trauma like this?
NICOLE HOCKLEY: Great question. He's still processing. And sometimes he talks about it. Sometimes he doesn't. However, he will be turning 18 on the Fourth of July. And he knows one of the first things he's going to do is register to vote. This is, you know, for 10 years, this is all he's known is death by firearm and preparing an active shooter drills for imminent school shootings. This is what this generation has grown up with. And I don't know how you process that because it becomes part of your normal psyche now, this is what they expect. This is what they live with every day. And this is why they are going to be the ones to help create the change that we adults have not been able to deliver for them.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Do either of you believe that the answer here or even part of the answer here is more police presence in schools?
JACLYN CORIN: I'll- I'll go first on that–
NICOLE HOCKLEY: I do not. Sorry. Go ahead, Jacqueline.
JACLYN CORIN: I mean, I do not. I mean, obviously, it's- it's despicable that it took so long for police to enter in Uvalde. And I remember feeling so angry at the armed school resource officer at my school who refused to enter the building. And that goes to show that evidently having armed security present does not prevent mass shooters from carrying out violence. And the reality is, is if we're talking about what to do, once a shooter has access to a school, it's just too late, police- more police in schools arming police officers, arming teachers, especially is not the answer.
MARGARET BRENNAN: And you agree with that, Nicole?
NICOLE HOCKLEY: I absolutely agree. It's about how do we get ahead of it by the time they get to the school, it's too late. And there's not enough evidence to suggest that armed security at the school will be anything other than another casualty or just not helpful at all.
MARGARET BRENNAN: What about restrictions on ammunition sales, high capacity magazines, those things that the President says should be talked about but are not being discussed in the US Capitol right now?
NICOLE HOCKLEY: Personally, I am a fan of restrictions on high capacity magazines because the only purpose of having a high capacity magazine is to propel as many bullets as possible in a short period of time. There's not really a civilian use other than target shooting, but you can't hunt with that. It's not good for personal self protection. It is for killing. And personally, I know that in the Sandy Hook situation, because the shooter had to stop either because his magazine jammed or because he had to change his ammunition clip. Several children were allowed to escape. My son was not one of them. But those few seconds can make all the difference in terms of saving lives.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Jacqueline, thank you, Nicole, thank you for your time today and for sharing your perspective. We'll be back in a moment.
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